


Who's Going to Drive You Home?

by giselleslash



Category: LOTR RPS
Genre: M/M, fandom: lotr, orlando/sean - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-11-30
Updated: 2010-11-30
Packaged: 2017-10-13 11:28:44
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,170
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/136861
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/giselleslash/pseuds/giselleslash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sean takes Orlando out on a drive. There may also be some cows, a baseball game and a drive-in, or, it could be plotless. Either one is entirely possible.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Who's Going to Drive You Home?

**Author's Note:**

> **A/N:** This is a bit of a slice from the [A Far Off Place](http://archiveofourown.org/works/136859) boys, although you don't need to have read that to understand this :)

Orlando looks up from his papers when the quiet music that had been filtering through the room stops. Sean is standing by the bookcase, leaning against it, actually, and staring at Orlando.

'Go for a drive?' he asks.

Orlando eyes the keys hanging from Sean's fingers and he knows Sean's only somewhat asking because, in his head, they're already out driving and Orlando really should get a move on.

'Yeah. Sure. Let me put all this away.' Orlando half smiles at the car keys and Sean has the decency to look like a man who just got caught.

'It's one of the last summer nights we'll have,' Sean says as way of an explanation. 'We'll go outside of town. The stars will be brilliant.'

'We'll have to drive for ages to get out far enough.'

Sean gives him one of his, well, obviously, looks and Orlando purposely slows down, starts taking his time putting all his papers and files away. Sean gets bored and rolls his eyes as he pushes off from the bookcase and walks past Orlando on the way out to their garage.

'Slow arse,' Sean says as he slaps Orlando on the ass as he passes him on his way out.

'I'm being conscientious. You should be proud.'

Orlando's only response is a snort and the door to the garage slamming shut.

Sean's already waiting in the drive, car running and being impatient, when Orlando steps out the front door and locks it behind him. He looks at Sean as he pretends to tie a scarf around his head and flounces over to the car, leaning over the passenger door and blowing Sean a kiss before swinging his legs over the door and flopping down onto the seat. Sean rolls his eyes and gets the car into gear.

'Top down, love. Mustn't muss my hair.'

'The door does work, you know.'

'But I can pretend to be the Dukes of Hazzard this way. Much cooler.'

'Idiot,' Sean mumbles, fondness soaking into every single letter of the word. Orlando leans over and kisses him behind the ear, calls him an ass, and Sean's fingers let got of the steering wheel. His knuckles graze the side of Orlando's face as he reaches back to touch. Orlando turns into him, holds Sean's hand for a moment as their fingers tangle for the quickest of seconds and he brushes a kiss across a knuckle. He lets go and settles back on his side of the seat. He watches as Sean flexes his fingers slightly, like they're at a momentary loss, before taking hold of the steering wheel again. Orlando presses his fingers to his mouth and turns to look out at the houses passing them by.

They drive north along the coast for a while and Orlando breathes in the salty ocean air. Sean takes an abrupt turn onto a road Orlando has never been and they start heading east.

Orlando twists in his seat, props his feet up between the two of them and looks at Sean. 'Going?'

'Dunno.'

Orlando smiles at that and closes his eyes. He feels Sean's hand wrap around his ankle. Sean mutters something about having not seen Orlando leave the house barefoot and what was he, a child? Orlando wiggles his toes to show he hears Sean's muttering and doesn't exactly care. Sean swats at his toes before giving the big one a quick pull and then his hand is back on Orlando's ankle. Warm. Thumb absently brushing back and forth over his skin.

They drive for miles, the air is warm and Orlando halfway falls asleep and is only brought into full wakefulness when Sean speaks again.

"What if I wanted to take you somewhere?"

Orlando moves his bare foot and pushes it against Sean's side. He knows Sean hasn't been thinking about his bare feet all this time, Sean's mind doesn't work like that, it just moves in circles sometimes is all. But he still needs to tease. It's what he does. What Sean expects. And he doesn't want to disappoint.

"Been thinking of my feet, kinky fucker?"

Sean sighs. "No. But what if I had a plan?"

"A plan that requires shoes."

"Don't most?"

"Depends on the plan."

Sean looks at him, sees the attempt at a suggestive leer Orlando is giving him, and smiles and rolls his eyes. Orlando laughs.

"Now who's the kinky fucker?" Sean asks.

Orlando doesn't answer, just points at himself, a look of unabashed innocence on his face. Sean chuckles and reaches out for Orlando's hand. He gives it to him and closes his eyes again. The weight of the warmth, the sound of the wind rushing by their car, and Sean beside him is too much to fight. So he doesn't. Sean's hand in his and he knows he'll sleep for miles more.

"There're a pair of your trainers in the backseat." He tells Sean, and, "Wake me if there're cows."

Sean squeezes his hand and quietly moos at him. Orlando doesn't need to open his eyes to know Sean just amused himself. He doesn't have to, but he wants to so he cracks one eye open to see Sean smiling to himself. Looking ahead as the sun shines around him and his profile is sharp and clear. Heat pools in the pit of Orlando's stomach and it's done. He's fallen again. Probably thousands of times by now and he remembers why Sean is so perfect. Perfect for him, and only him.

Orlando closes his eye again.

"Heifer," he mutters to Sean, but squeezes back as tightly as he can.

He can feel Sean's eyes on him. And for so long he wants to tell him he'll run the damn car off the road. But he doesn't feel real sometimes until Sean is looking at him and he doesn't say a thing. He thinks he hears Sean tell him that he loves him more than he can stand sometimes. It might be a trick of the wind but Sean has said it before and Orlando chooses Sean over the wind. Sometimes they're like that. They love each other more than is probably good for them, and sometimes they love each other just the right amount. Whatever that is. It depends on the day, the hour, sometimes the moment. Sean sometimes wonders if it's too much. He'll say that to Orlando, is it too much, and Orlando will love him more because only Sean would ask something like that. Nothing is ever too much for Orlando, Sean knows that, and still he asks. Orlando knows he does it just to hear Orlando's voice some days, and others just to be reassured that this crazy love is okay. That they'll break apart without each other and that's just how it is.

It's okay, Orlando says, and Sean kisses him slow slow slow and his hands hold Orlando so tightly it hurts.

And it's perfect.

"You think about cows far more than you ought," Sean says. Loud enough this time to be perfectly heard. The love? That's a given and doesn't need to be loud enough, just there.

"I love cows."

Sean laughs, says something about not being able to argue with such sound logic and Orlando doesn't hear much beyond that because he does fall asleep then. At that moment where Sean's voice is caught somewhere between a chuckle and a fond reprimand and it sounds like smoke.

Orlando wakes up later still holding Sean's hand but now they're stopped. He stretches, yawns, makes a bit of a to-do about it. Sean's smoking and staring off into the distance.

"Cows," he says and points with his cigarette.

Orlando sits up straighter to see that, yes, they're stopped along the side of a country road and there are cows. Lots and lots of cows.

"They sound just like me," Sean adds when one starts mooing.

Orlando wants to laugh out loud but instead nods quite seriously and says, "Yes. They do a bloody fantastic Sean impersonation."

"I thought so."

Orlando sits up all the way and moves so he's right next to Sean. He reaches for Sean's hand, the one with the cigarette, pulls it over to his mouth and takes a drag.

"I thought you said you were quitting."

"I am," Orlando says, then takes another drag.

"Bang up job, love."

"It's all about willpower."

"Yes. I can see that," Sean says as he watches the cigarette leave his fingers and settle between Orlando's.

"I really do love cows."

Sean laughs then and lays his hand on Orlando's thigh. Just high enough to make Orlando shift his hips, yet still low enough to remain relatively decent. For the cows' sakes, Orlando's sure. Wouldn't want to be an improper influence on the Bessies.

He figures he must have been sleeping for a good chunk of time because the sky is on the cusp of twilight. He thinks about their drive out to San Diego and that field somewhere in the middle where lightning bugs lit up the sky and Sean risked life and limb, and more than likely massive embarrassment, to bring him a jar to fill up with light. Sean had laid in the grass and watched him run around him trying to catch as many bugs as he could. He remembers thinking that it wasn't so bloody hard when he was seven. But when he was done he set the jar down on Sean's chest and they had watched it spark and flicker. Right before they drove off Orlando unscrewed the top to let the bugs go. He left the jar sitting along the side of the road. Sean called it littering, Orlando said he left it there for the next person who ended up in the middle of a lightning bug sky without a jar.

They watch the cows for a while. Sean wonders if they shouldn't name a few, and is it weird to find watching them so calming. Orlando says not really, no, not coming from a man who wants to name cows. He gets a bit of a shove for that.

"I'm hungry. For a burger." Orlando says, already on his second cigarette.

"You're a twisted little thing, aren't you?" Sean asks.

Orlando laughs. Says, maybe. Yeah. Probably. And, "I still want a burger."

"Yeah. I kind of do now too."

Sean frowns at that and Orlando laughs. He reaches over and bunches his fingers up in Sean's shirt, tugs a bit and smiles at him like he knows they're both a bit sick in the head.

"Mmm. Burgers."

Sean keeps frowning and points to one of the cows. "Can't you see, that one there? It's listening to us and now it's thinking about charging our car."

Orlando looks out at the cow standing closest to the road, the one calmly chewing that looks slightly dim if Orlando were to put a name to it.

"I think that one's cross-eyed."

"It's plotting."

"Whatever." Orlando leans forward a bit and turns the keys in the ignition. The car starts up with a low hum. "Take me to burgers."

Sean sighs and pulls out onto the road. Orlando waves goodbye to the cows and Sean asks him if he isn't maybe rubbing it in. Orlando just pushes down on Sean's knee so his foot presses down harder on the accelerator and repeats that he wants giant greasy cheeseburgers.

They end up at some small town drive-in that Sean saw along the way while Orlando was sleeping. They pull in and a little red head, complete with a uniform and hat, comes out to take their order. Orlando thinks they've driven through a time warp somewhere along the way. The girl is so fresh faced and wholesome, her uniform so cliched, that Orlando thinks they might just be in the 50s and whispers in Sean's ear about maybe acting like The Fonz. Or Danny Zuko.

Orlando smiles at the girl and she blushes a fierce pink, stumbles a bit over her words. Orlando flirts like mad and Sean sits beside him and smiles. The girl nods and says yes to everything Orlando asks for; cheeseburgers extra cheesy, chocolate malt extra thick. Sean gives his order too but the girl is still looking at Orlando as she absently writes it down. Orlando winks.

"I'm going to end up getting one french fry and a straw." Sean complains once the girl walks away. Stumbles away, really, since she walks backwards a few feet to keep staring at Orlando who smiles at her the whole time.

Orlando pats Sean on the arm. "I'll share mine with you."

"You're a horrible flirt."

"She was cute." Orlando says as he settles back against the seat.

"She was probably sixteen."

"And probably thinks you're my dad."

Sean laughs. "Fucker."

Orlando leans over and whispers things into Sean's ear, dark and filthy, that make Sean shift in his seat. His breath is warm and it tickles Sean's ear, the side of his neck, as a shiver starts out just behind his ear and works its way down his neck and over his shoulder. A rush of heat followed by a ripple of cold. Orlando's forehead is resting against Sean's head, pushing against him as he whispers a few more dirty deeds and his teeth gently nip at the curve of Sean's ear.

"We'd have some serious issues if you said things like that to your dad." Sean says, his voice low. Orlando laughs a little and presses kisses into Sean's neck.

He backs away though when their little red head comes around the corner.

"Wouldn't want to shock her." Orlando reasons.

"You just want to keep flirting." Sean says instead.

Orlando doesn't answer because of course he does, and Sean knows he does so he's not going to give him the satisfaction of a response. Sean laughs at him just then because he knows that's exactly what's going through Orlando's mind. Little tart.

Sean sets an elbow on the window and props his head in his hand as watches Orlando with fondness and amusement warm in his stomach. This is one of the reasons he has always been glad to have Orlando; his capacity to talk, flirt, laugh with anyone and everyone. Sean remembers catching Orlando talking to a pigeon once as he sat on a bench and waited for Sean in Central Park. He had laughed until tears filled his eyes. Orlando only shrugged and said there'd been an old lady there but she'd had to go and the pigeon was quite friendly actually so just shut it. Sean is pretty sure he sat down next to Orlando on the bench to wait for him to finish his conversation with the pigeon. He got a talking to later when Orlando told him the pigeon was a far better listener than Sean and at least he didn't hum at him as he _pretended_ to listen. Sean had hummed in response. Orlando shoved him then and Sean kissed him; partly because his lips had missed Orlando's and partly because Orlando's annoyed face made him smile.

But Sean knows he's lucky to have him because he will sometimes translate the world for Sean when he needs him to do so. When they're in the middle of a crowded room, one of Sean's least favorite places to be, Orlando answers questions for him, smiles, says the necessary pleasantries that Sean would more than likely harrumph at instead. A lot more people like Sean and think he's an okay bloke than would if Orlando weren't there to fool them on his behalf. Orlando usually laughs, takes his hand and tells him they're going on play dates to meet new friends whenever Sean has to be dragged along somewhere. Orlando thinks it's funny, Sean knows it's much more than that. Sean knows he's been saved. Many times over. And that's no small thing.

Orlando's done flirting, the girl having giggled in awkward and charming ways and made it through another backward stumbling retreat. Orlando winks at Sean. Tells him they're definitely getting extra pickles now. Sean tells him he loves him and Orlando says he knows, he gets him extra pickles, who wouldn't love him? Orlando makes a joke but he knows Sean's words are serious and true so he kisses him and Sean agrees, yes, it's all about the extra pickles.

Their food is brought out and Sean manages not to laugh at it until after the girl leaves. He's fairly certain Orlando is in possession of the drive-in's entire stock of french fries and what looks to be about a ten pound cheeseburger and a malt you almost have to cut with a knife. Orlando gives him a look and Sean shakes his head and hopes for some of Orlando's french fries.

By the time they finish Orlando claims to be dying and is pretty sure he has eaten an entire cow, yet he still only gave about six of his french fries to Sean so he's not that sympathetic. Sean is paying the girl, well, trying to pay the girl as she asks Orlando if he'll be back. They have homemade pie and she works until eleven. Orlando tells her he's not sure where they're going but he promises her he'll make Sean stop on the way back. Her smile is like the sun and Sean gives her an obscenely large tip because she's adorable and had to suffer through the full force of Orlando. Not that she minded, but Sean wants to do it anyway. She is just so happy and bright faced at the moment and Sean thinks her a bit dear.

Orlando says his goodbyes and Sean backs the car out. He shifts into drive and is pulling ahead when he sees the girl running toward them out of the corner of his eye. He thinks briefly of teasing Orlando about how she can't let him go but to Sean's surprise she sets her gaze on him once he's stopped and she's next to the car.

"You forgot your change," she says, slightly flushed.

"I didn't forget." Sean smiles at her.

She looks down at the money in her hand and there's that sunshine smile again. She says thank you in a excited, breathless voice. Calls him sir. Orlando snorts at that and makes a crack about his old man being a generous sort. She says quietly, under her breath, my dad's not, he's stingy and Orlando laughs out loud. A giant burst of laughter that surprises the girl first from shock, then from pride at having made Orlando laugh at all. Sean rolls his eyes and smacks Orlando's arm with the back of his hand. He says goodbye to the girl and takes his foot off the brake. Orlando turns in his seat and waves at the girl and she waves back until she can no longer be seen.

Orlando turns back around, tugs at his t-shirt. "Where next, daddy?"

Sean gives him a look and tells him to shut it. He laughs again, quieter this time, and sticks his arm out of the car. Lets the wind lift it up and down.

"Let's just drive until it gets dark."

"I think that'll do." Orlando agrees.

They drive through a few more towns. A couple with baseball fields lit up and games underway. In the last town they reach there's another game and Orlando asks Sean if maybe it isn't dark enough now. Sean knows Orlando wants to watch the game. Have a beer, maybe some peanuts. He can't think of a single reason why not so they stop. Orlando goes to sit on the bleachers and Sean goes on a beer run. When he sits down next to Orlando he's told he's cheering for the team in blue and Orlando the one in black and white. Sean looks out on the field and sees the black haired first baseman and knows why that's Orlando's team. So predictable. He gives Orlando a shove and rolls his eyes at him when he looks over.

"I make no apologies." Orlando says as he keeps his eyes on first base.

"And I'd never expect you to."

"Good."

"Your team is down five runs."

"Eh. You win some, you lose some."

Sean laughs and drinks his beer and listens to the crack of the bat against the ball. Orlando's first baseman finishes up a well turned out double play and Orlando stands up. Yells. Grabs Sean's shoulder. The air still clings to the last bit of warmth from the day, the lights from the field make everything unnaturally bright and it's as close to perfect as Sean ever hopes to be.

Orlando's team loses but he doesn't care, his first baseman hit a homerun in the seventh and he makes sure to admire the man's batting stance excessively. Sean pretends not to hear and talks instead about the euphoria of cheering for the winning team. He laughs though when Orlando looks at him and asks if he should maybe get the first baseman to sign his chest. He starts to pull up his t-shirt to show Sean exactly where, face entirely serious and focused until Sean grabs at his shirt and yanks it back down as he keeps laughing at him. Orlando shrugs and says maybe some other time, but he's smiling as he opens the car door and crawls inside.

When they get back to the drive-in Orlando frowns. It's past eleven and all the lights are turned off. He makes Sean turn into a parking spot anyway and he pulls a little notebook out of the glove box. Sean watches as he writes a note to the girl promising to come back for pie. He gets out of the car and leaves the note on the counter of the order window under a rock he picked up to hold it down and make sure it didn't blow away. Orlando gets back into the car and sees Sean watching him. He shrugs, says he didn't want her to think he'd lied. Or that he'd forgotten about her. Sean touches the skin behind Orlando's ear, brushes his fingers into his hair.

"We'll eat a whole pie between the two of us when we come back," he says and Orlando smiles at him.

"You mean I'll eat three-quarters of it and you the rest?"

"That too." Sean grins.

They make another stop to fill up the gas tank and a last one once they hit the ocean again. Sean pulls the car over along the side of the road, into one of those scenic overlook spots that screams; take a picture, tourists. They get out to stretch. Sean leaves the car running because he doesn't expect to stay long. Orlando has other ideas and digs around in the backseat until he finds what he's looking for. He pops the cassette into the ancient tape deck underneath the radio. When the first [song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TRuPPjxbZHc) comes on Orlando pulls Sean into the beams of the headlights and into his arms.

They dance for real to begin with. Sean will never dance with anyone other than Orlando, but it doesn't mean he can't, and he turns Orlando out, their arms straight out between them before he pulls him back close. Orlando moves with him perfectly. He pulls a reluctant Sean along often enough; the middle of their living room, the kitchen, out in their backyard when Sean's done pulling the weeds out of his garden. Sean always thinks their neighbors are watching them from their windows. Orlando always tells him to shut up and dance. And he does.

By the end they're swaying more than dancing and Sean's lips are at the spot on Orlando's neck where it starts to curve into his shoulder. The next [song](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wxVFgFDage0&feature=related) starts and Orlando wraps his arms up under Sean's and holds on.

Back at home they're quiet and move about in their own nighttime routines. Orlando lets the dog out. Sean gets a glass of water for his nightstand. He makes sure all the doors are locked and Orlnado makes sure the bedroom window is open and the bed turned down. There's a rhythm and they move around each other like they're still dancing. They never bump into each other or trip each other up because each one knows exactly where the other one is heading.

Sean's always first into bed and Orlando always crawls over him to get to his side, too lazy to walk around the foot of the bed. Sean turns to his side to set the alarm and Orlando scoots up behind him, nosed pressed into Sean's bare back and his arm dropped over Sean's waist.

After Sean switches off the lamp he says, "Should we see where we can find ourselves next weekend?"

Orlando mumbles something into Sean's back that might very well have been something about pie, or a goodnight.

Sean takes it as a yes.

 

~end


End file.
